A racist who admitted posting a video online showing someone in a Ku Klux Klan costume hanging a life-size golliwog doll was this afternoon jailed for one year.
Christopher Philips (aka Darren Clifft)
Christopher Philips, from Wolverhampton, who used a series of pseudonyms and even impersonated mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik had pleaded guilty to posting three videos online, which were filmed at a music concert and intended to stir up racial hatred.
The court was previously told the event had been organised by an extreme right wing group in West Wales in March.
Philips – who was formerly known as Darren Clifft – was arrested later that month following an investigation by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit.
The 23-year-old also faced a second charge of using words or behaviour intending to incite racial hatred, but it was left to lie on file after he pleaded not guilty.
During his sentencing today at Wolverhampton Crown Court it was revealed Philips had a Ku Klux Klan outfit in his room.
Judge John Warner told him: “Publication of this material which has particularly historical connotations would have been deeply offensive to many people.”
Det Insp Darren Powney, senior investigating officer for the CTU, said: “We understand how offensive and distressing this type of material can be and we worked with the Crown Prosecution Service to bring Philips before the courts at the earliest opportunity.
“We urge anyone with concerns about extremist behaviour of any kind to contact police on 101.”
31 men from across the country, aged between 18 and 59, have been given sentences totalling 60 years and eight months for their part in the 2012 disorder which broke out in Walsall following an English Defence League demonstration.
Over 600 supporters of the EDL held a demonstration in the town centre on 29 September last year. A counter demonstration was also held nearby by the Unite Against Fascism group. Police officers had to keep the two groups apart.
EDL supporter injured by his own side in Walsall 2012
A number of officers and EDL stewards were injured when the atmosphere turned hostile and supporters of the EDL threw missiles at the police.
The following men have been sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court for their part in the disorder:
Douglas Ralston (53) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 20 months
Darron Davies (49) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 22 months
Neil MacDiarmid (50) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 15 months
Alan Turnbull (32) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 26 months
Stephen Currien (30) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 28 months
Lee Rogers (26) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 24 months
Gary Lycett (55) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 26 months
Jack Lambert (25) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 14 months
Michael Thomas (49) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 28 months
Jack Clark (22) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 16 months
Christopher Boyall (31) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 24 months
Benjamin Banfield (35) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 20 months
Mark Baker (44) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 21 months
Dean Lidster (44) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 28 months
Craig Forward (38) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 25 months
Stephen Bennett (23) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 20 months
Christopher Jelley (28) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 22 months
Myles Smith (39) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 24 months
Nicholas Cooper (28) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 27 months
Peter Kirkham (30) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 14 months
Mark Conroy (35) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 30 months
Kirk Reeves (40) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 18 months
Richard Schulz (38) – found guilty after trial to violent disorder and sentenced to 42 months
Dean Smith (33) – found guilty after trial to violent disorder and sentenced to 27 months
John Cureton (48) – found guilty after trial to violent disorder and sentenced to 36 months
Kirk Jones (28) – found guilty after trial to violent disorder and sentenced to 33 months
Ronald Hatton (59) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 20 months, suspended for two years and 200 hours unpaid work.
Leslie Silk (37) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 18 months, suspended for two years with 200 hours unpaid work.
Samuel Phipps (18) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 16 months, suspended for two years, 200 hours unpaid work.
Duncan Smith (43) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 20 months, suspended for two years, 200 hours unpaid work.
Lee Coxshall (aged 34) – pleaded guilty to violent disorder and sentenced to 14 months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.
“On 29 September, the English Defence League had arranged for their supporters from around the country to assemble in Walsall for a demonstration. It is the right of anyone to hold a peaceful assembly and Article 10 of the European Commission for Human Rights provides the right for freedom of expression; however, on that day, the supporters of the EDL went far beyond freedom of expression or a peaceful assembly.
Fuelled by hate and alcohol, a section of the group, instigated by key figures within the demonstration, began to direct their anger towards the counter demonstration. As police then sought to contain the group, supporters of the EDL began throwing missiles.
Police officers were then exposed to some of the worst violence that they have been subjected to in a public order situation. Concrete slabs, bricks and a table leg were among some of the various items which were used as weapons and thrown at the officers.
Those engaged in such reprehensible conduct paid little regard to what they were doing or who they were attacking, as during their orgy of violence, a number of their own EDL stewards, as well as police officers, were seriously injured.
A year on from those violent scenes those responsible for their actions that day have been arrested, brought to justice and now they have to face the consequences for their actions.”
– Robin Allen, Senior Crown Prosecutor from West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service
Over a period of four days the defendants will all appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court for their final hearing, after being convicted of violent disorder earlier this year.
The men were arrested and charged following an investigation by West Midlands Police Force CID following violence in Walsall town centre on September 29, 2012.
A series of operations were staged across the country to arrest people suspected of involvement in the disorder, which broke out when members of the protest group tried to break through police lines.
A further 17 men have already appeared before magistrates where they have been sentenced for crimes ranging from public order offences to criminal damage.
Det Chief Insp Pete Dunn, who led the police investigation into the disorder, said: “The majority of the people who visited Walsall to protest that day were law-abiding.
“However a small number of people decided to get involved in a few ugly scenes when protestors began to try and break through police lines and throw missiles.
“Thirty people were arrested at the time, and we continued to arrest people from as far and wide as Dorset and County Durham over the weeks and months that followed.
“This week sees the culmination of a detailed, painstaking investigation by a dedicated team of officers who were determined to bring those people to justice.
“We recovered many hours of CCTV, mobile phone and police footage which led to more than 450 hours of detective work to identify those responsible for bringing violence to the streets of Walsall.
“These court proceedings underline the fact that we will pursue people who commit crime in the West Midlands, no matter how long it takes, and bring them to justice.”
Chief Supt Dave Sturman, commander for Walsall and in charge of the operation on the day, added: “We recognise that the people of Walsall were both concerned and inconvenienced on the day and we hope that residents are reassured by our continuing efforts to bring those involved in disorder in the town to justice.
“The message to people intent on bringing violence to the streets of the West Midlands when attending such events is clear – we will not tolerate disorder or any form of anti social behaviour.
“The force takes a hard line against anyone who comes to the West Midlands and creates disorder, whether it be in the name of an organisation or just for devilment.
“If you commit such crimes we will track you down and ultimately you will be brought before the courts.”
Despite violence breaking out at the EDL demonstration, only a small number of protesters and police officers sustained minor cuts and bruises.
There were no serious injuries.
All 32 men will appear before Wolverhampton Crown Courtto be sentenced between Monday, December 16-Thursday, December 19.
Christopher Philips – formerly known as Darren Clifft – admitted posting the three videos on YouTube from a March music concert, organised by an extreme right-wing group.
A 23-year old man, who posted pictures of himself in Ku Klux Klan regalia and hanging a life-sized golliwog doll, has admitted stirring racial hatred.
Christopher Philips – formerly known as Darren Clifft – admitted posting the three videos on YouTube from a March music concert, organised by an extreme right-wing group in West Wales.
Philips from Wolverhampton was arrested later that month following an investigation by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit. Yesterday he admitted the race offence.
Philips was conditionally bailed to re-appear at court for sentencing on December 19. He was warned a prison sentence is likely.
Philips pleaded not guilty to a second charge of stirring racial hatred which the prosecution will ask to remain on file.
Det Insp Darren Powney said: “We reacted quickly to investigate this matter and bring the offender before the courts.
“We understand how offensive and distressing this type of material can be and urge anyone who has concerns about extremist behaviour of any type to contact the police on 101.”
Extremism on the internet can also be reported to a dedicated counter terrorism police unit by using an anonymous online reporting form, which can be found here: http://www.gov.uk/report-extremism
Of all the circumstances surrounding last week’s conviction of Britain’s Neo-Nazi Ukrainian born terrorist, Pavlo Lapshyn, the London press’ failure to join the dots, even to call him a terrorist, is scandal all of its own.
When considering state actors’ role in aiding domestic terrorism, the London press has a blind spot. They seem to forget that during the 1970s & 1980s Irish troubles, state complicity and ‘collusion’ was pouring petrol on the flames. Evidence has been around for years that the British Army’s Force Research Unit (FRU), Brigadier Gordon Kerr specifically, was an integral part of the anti-IRA, Loyalist terror program.
State terrorism in Northern Ireland
State collusion with British terrorists arguably represents the greatest threat to UK national security, because it has gone almost entirely unrecognized and unpunished. This week Irish writer, Anne Cadwallader, pointed out in her new book about the Irish troubles, ‘Lethal Allies’, that serving policemen in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) instigated and took part in terrorist murders of Catholics. Along with the unofficial ‘shoot to kill’ policy, this collusion was a powerful recruiting tool, generating ever more terrorism.
Collusion also turned Northern Ireland into a civil war training ground for the police and army, pitting soldiers against urban guerrillas. Cadwallader says: “There was systematic collusion in the 1970s… there must have been somebody trying to push Northern Ireland over the edge of the abyss. If there had been a virtual civil war, I think it would have suited some people in London.”
The disbanding first of the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) and then the RUC police force in Northern Ireland were, arguably, two of the most important acts that paved the way for the peace we see in the province today. Since so few were brought to justice for these state-sanctioned assassinations, it is absurd to suggest, as so many do, that UK state terrorism is ‘all in the past’.
Birmingham’s summer of terror
Britain’s most recent terrorist, 25 year old Ukrainian, Pavlo Lapshyn, who was convicted last week, was extraordinary in many ways. Despite a racially motivated murder and three bombs including Mosque bombings and a nail bomb, most of the London media used the word ‘murderer’ rather than ‘terrorist’ to describe him. The fact that no-one was killed by his bombs, which terrorized Birmingham’s Muslim community over the summer months, was described by the city’s spiritual leaders, quite rightly, as a miracle.
Lapshyn turned up in Britain in the spring, having won a work experience intern competition run by the robotics software company, Delcam. Astonishingly, this competition was run in conjunction with the British Embassy in Kiev, where he received his ticket to the UK from the British ambassador himself.
It is the Diplomatic Service and Foreign Office’s job to look into the credentials of anyone taking up residence in Britain. Yet not only, it seems, did they miss Lapshyn’s fanatical Neo-Nazism but failed to notice that he had been arrested in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, in 2010 for using home-made explosives to virtually destroy the flat he was living in. Despite blowing out his mother’s doors and windows, Ukrainian police let him off with a caution because he said he was simply doing a ‘science experiment’.
Whether MI6 and the Diplomatic Service failed to do their job when vetting Lapshyn or not rather depends what their real job was. Incredible though it will seem to some, Lapshyn might have been identified by MI6 as a useful puppet to fuel sectarian strife in Britain and been conveyed to the UK for that very purpose. This is precisely the covert role the British Secret State has taken on in the past and does regularly abroad, all shrouded under the guise of ‘national security’.
Just like MI5 and GCHQ, the top echelons of MI6 operate like a cult, light years and several hermetically sealed cordons of security from democracy. The MP charged with their oversight, former Conservative Defense Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, has even been criticized by former GCHQ boss Sir Francis Richards as being inappropriate.
One of Rifkind’s many jobs is working for LEK, who consult on satellite, missile, security systems and electronic warfare. He is blatantly a fox in charge of the democratic henhouse, a front in the corridors of power for the private profiteers of the NATO zone Military Industrial Complex.
The ‘lone wolf’ theory
Just five days after entering Britain and taking up residence at the Birmingham flat Delcam software provided for him, Pavlo Lapshyn crept up behind 82 year old Muslim grandfather, Mohammed Saleem, and killed him by plunging a knife into his back three times. The explanation he later gave to police was simply that Saleem ‘was not white’ and that he ‘wanted to start a race war’.
Mohammed Saleem’s daughters, Shazia Khan and Maz Saleem, say whilst dealing with the trauma of their father’s murder their grief was made worse by an excruciating struggle. It took them weeks to convince West Midlands police that their father’s murder was racially motivated.
The two sisters expressed their relief when Lapshyn confessed to the murder because they would not have to endure a lengthy and painful trial. The flip side though is we may never know whether, as the police say, the Ukrainian really was a ‘lone wolf’. The Norwegian police insisted Norwegian neo-Nazi killer of 77, Anders Breivik, was a ‘lone wolf’ too, despite some evidence of state collusion.
In the 1970s and 1980s, MI6 and the CIA were lead agencies in Operation Gladio, which recruited European Neo-Nazis like Lapshyn to commit terrorist acts in Italy, Germany, Belgium and elsewhere. The aim was to create a state of panic, a ‘Strategy of Tension’ which would enable governments to scapegoat society’s innocent minority groups and to take draconian measures, running rough-shod over civil liberties.
Otherwise professional, British police and journalists seem reluctant to take state collusion with far right terrorists seriously. One look at the 1992 three-part BBC Timewatch series on Operation Gladio should put them straight on that though. After watching it they’ll wonder, as with Norway’s Anders Breivik, are all these Nazis really just lone wolves?
In a country where the greatest threat to national security and natural justice is arguably the secret state itself, MI6 staff have once again let us all down in Birmingham. So rather than just shrugging their shoulders and turning a blind eye, perhaps named officers should be standing in the dock alongside Pavlo Lapshyn this week, ‘fessing up, and serving long jail sentences too.
A racist terrorist who planted bombs at three mosques in the Black Country and murdered a man was today jailed for life.
Pavlo Lapshyn will spend a minimum of 40 years behind bars after mounting his campaign of terror across the West Midlands.
His sentencing was delayed after a suspect package was found in the court sparking an evacuation of the Old Bailey.
Staff and members of the public were told to leave the building shortly after 1pm while investigations were carried out.
After the unnamed item was checked thought officials said it was not a danger to the public.
No –one was detained in relation to the drama.
Jailing Lapshyn at the Old Bailey today, Judge Nigel Sweeney said: “You clearly hold extreme right wing, white supremacist views.
“Such views, hatred and motivation, are abhorrent to all right thinking people and have no place whatsoever in our multi faith, multi-cultural society.
“You were intent on finding a Muslim to murder, it seems to me you acted alone and were motivated by your extreme, appalling prejudices.”
West Midlands Police footage of the interview with jailed terrorist Pavlo Lapshyn.
The 25-year-old Ukranian had wanted to start a race war and told police he targeted his victims simply because they were not white.
But today Lapshyn, who was described by police as ‘extremely dangerous’, was handed the lengthy prison term.
The nail bomber’s 90-day campaign of terror began just five days after he entered the country.
He stabbed Mohammed Saleem three times in the back, killing the 82-year-old as he walked home from evening prayers in Birmingham on April 29.
On June 21, he targeted Walsall’s Aisha Mosque in Rutter Street, Caldmore, when he planted explosive devices in a child’s lunch box at the mosque gates.
Then seven days later he placed a bomb on a roundabout near Wolverhampton Central Mosque.
But his most serious attack was at Kanz-ul-Iman mosque in Tipton, where he packed hundreds of nails in a bomb on a railway embankment next to the mosque’s car park.
Pavlo Lapshyn is seen blowing up a tree believed to be in Ukraine in footage released by West Midlands Police.
Worshippers were only saved from serious harm as Friday afternoon prayers were being held an hour later than usual on the first Friday of Ramadan.
Lapshyn said he had planted the bombs because he wanted to ‘increase racial hatred’.
On Monday Lapshyn admitted murdering Mr Saleem, causing an explosion on July 12 and engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts between April 24 and July 18.
A Ukrainian student with a hatred of “non-whites” pleads guilty to stabbing an 82-year-old grandfather to death and causing explosions near mosques in the West Midlands.
Pavlo Lapshyn
Pavlo Lapshyn, a postgraduate student from Dnipropetrovsk, in Ukraine, who moved to Birmingham after winning a work placement contest, was charged with the murder of Mohammed Saleem as he walked home from a mosque.
Mr Saleem, the pensioner and father-of-seven, was stabbed three times just yards from his house as he walked home alone after worship on 29 April. He was described as “a much-loved and respected community member” in a family statement at the time.
Twenty-five-year-old Lapshyn also admitted to causing an explosion on 12 July near the Kanzal Iman mosque in Tipton and planting bombs near mosques in Walsall and Wolverhampton, researching locations to plant bombs and buying chemicals on the internet to make explosives.
He will reappear at the Old Bailey for sentencing on Friday 25 October.
Mohammed Saleem
The court heard how the self-confessed racist, from Dnipropetrovesk but in the UK on a year-long visa had “acted alone.”
Detective Superintendent Shaun Edwards, from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “In interview Lapshyn stressed he was acting alone – not part of a wider cell or influenced by any group – and was keen to take credit for masterminding and carrying out the attacks.”
Mr Lapshyn would undoubtedly have gone on to ramp-up his bombing campaign, had he not been caught, the court heard.
Mr Edwards added: “We found part-made devices in Lapshyn’s room – plus chemicals and bomb-making equipment – so it is clear he planned to place further devices with the intention of killing or maiming innocent members of the public.
Nails collected from the blast site in Tipton
“All three of the devices he detonated were powerful but his final attack in Tipton was the first to feature shrapnel and nails.
“He placed this near the mosque’s car-park with the intention of hitting worshippers as they arrived for prayers – thankfully the service had been put back an hour so the mosque was largely deserted when the bomb went off.”
Mr Lapshyn planted the first of his improvised explosive devices – hidden in a child’s lunchbox – by gates outside Walsall’s Aisha Mosque in Rutter Street on 21 June and followed that seven days later by detonating an IED on a roundabout near Wolverhampton Central Mosque.
And on 12 July he packed hundreds of nails into a bomb placed on a rail embankment near Kanzul Iman Masjid mosque in Binfield Street, Tipton, which sent debris flying across the car-park and into a residential street.
Detectives investigating the initial Walsall blast trawled many hours of CCTV and managed to identify Lapshyn arriving at the scene with his deadly package and leaving minutes later empty handed.
More security camera scrutiny enabled officers to plot the Ukraine Metallurgical Academy graduate’s route on a bus to Birmingham and an earlier service taking him into the city centre from Small Heath.
The Ukrainian had been in the UK on a sponsored work placement at a software firm in the Small Heath area of Birmingham when he was arrested on suspicion of Mr Saleem’s murder nearby on 20 July.
Speaking outside the court, Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale described Lapshyn as “dangerous and evil.”
He said: “I hope they (Mr Saleem’s family) get some solace from it. You must feel for them when they lose their dad in such circumstances.
“But hopefully it will be one small step in coming to terms with what has been an awful, awful time.”
He added: “He (Lapshyn) was extremely dangerous. It is of great relief that he is not free to walk the streets any further.
“He’s a dangerous, evil and completely ill-informed man. There is no justification for the crimes he committed or the intent that he has.
A 25-year-old man being questioned over explosions at three mosques in Walsall, Tipton and Woverhampton has been arrested “for a further act of terrorism” in connection with the murder of pensioner Mohammed Saleem.
Mohammed Saleem Chaudhry.
Mohammed Saleem Chaudhry, 75, was stabbed three times in the back as he walked home from a mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham in April.
Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale, of West Midlands Police, said: “The murder of Mohammed Saleem now forms part of the wider West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit Investigation.”
POLICE have today (Wednesday) released pictures of a man they urgently want to speak to in connection with the attack on the Aisha Mosque in Walsall last month.
The images – released to the public as part of a major investigation by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit – show a man, believed to be white, in his 20s or 30s and of slim to medium build.
Parts of a device were recovered from the vicinity of the Rutter Street mosque after worshippers alerted police to suspicious items found nearby. Local residents reported hearing a loud bang shortly before prayers late on the evening of Friday 21 June.
Officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit have since been conducting a large and detailed investigation which includes the recovery of many hours of CCTV pictures from the area and beyond.
A 75-year-old man from Walsall arrested on 27 June in connection with this investigation has been eliminated from enquiries and faces no further action.
Detectives urgently need to identify the person in these pictures.
Anyone with any information that could help establish his identity is asked to contact the dedicated hotline 0800 096 1233 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
If you see this man you are urged not to approach him but to call 999.
Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale appeals to the public for their assistance:
Update 18.07.13
BREAKING NEWS: Two men arrested in connection with Walsall mosque blast
A 25-YEAR-OLD man and 22-year-old man, both Eastern European, have been arrested in connection with the explosion near Aisha Mosque in Walsall on 21 June.
They were arrested just before 3pm today (Thursday 18 July) and are being questioned by detectives from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit.
An area in Talbot Way, Small Heath is being searched and as a precaution there has been an evacuation of a number of properties.
A number of road closures are in place:
– Small Heath Highway at Golden Hillock Road (into city)
– Golden Hillock Road at Small Heath Highway (out of city)
– Coventry Road at Talbot Road
Ex-soldiers among Midland members looking to former Smethwick MP Oswald Mosley as spiritual leader
Oswald Mosley (centre) with members of his British Union of Fascists including (left) William Joyce who later became Lord Haw Haw
A sinister new group of right-wing extremists is trying to revive Oswald Mosley’s notorious British Union of Fascists party.
Calling themselves the 21st Century Blackshirts, members look up to former Smethwick MP and Nazi sympathiser Mosley as their spiritual leader.
In the 1930s Mosley’s British Union of Fascists aligned itself with Nazi Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini while its paramilitary footsoldiers, dubbed the Blackshirts, terrorised Britain’s Jews.
Now far-right defectors from groups like the British National Party and English Defence League have resurrected the party re-labelling it the New British Union party (NBU)
Set up in January, the party has named 54 “officers” from across Britain on its web page which has already had more than 50,000 hits.
A Sunday Mercury investigation has discovered that its top two Midland representatives are former soldiers while other district officers in the region include failed local election candidates for the British National Party.
Others have links to the English Defence League including the party’s Gloucestershire Divisional Officer Clive Cerrone who is currently awaiting trial accused of setting fire to a local mosque last month.
The party website also lists representatives in 11 nations including the US, Australia, Italy and Poland.
One banner on the site reads: “Some people are fascist. Get over it.”
It adds: “New British Union. 21st Century Blackshirts Marching On For Britain.”
Members are encouraged to dress in paramilitary blackshirt style uniforms, like the type worn by fascist Mussolini’s private army during his authoritarian rule.
Their site — which shows Mosley’s fanatical followers performing the stiff-armed fascist salute — boasts: “This will be an historic occasion, the first official Blackshirt meeting to be held since the Second World War, heralding the return of a registered fascist political party in Britain.”
Ian Starks
The NBU lists its Birmingham Divisional Officer as former RAF Gulf and Kosovo war veteran Ian Starks, who was the unsuccessful BNP candidate for Sheldon Heath in last year’s local elections.
The 45-year-old, from Sheldon, Birmingham, lists Paganism and Wicca as pastimes on his Facebook page.
The party’s West Bromwich officer Jennifer Howells has also stood for election under the BNP banner in local government elections.
Brian Meaker
She sought torepresent Sandwell in 2010.
And its Worcestershire officer Brian Meaker, who strikes a menacing pose handcuffed in an Gutanamo Bay style orange jumpsuit, is a life-time member of the BNP.
Mathew Maloney
The NBU’s latest recruit is its Walsall officer Matthew Moloney, a 35-year-old dad-of-two and former soldier with the Royal Monmouthshire engineers regiment.
He claims to be a carpenter for Birmingham City Council, but a council spokesman said he was not directly employed.
The BNP has tried to distance itself from the fascist party saying it was a “nondescript sideshow.”
Deputy BNP leader Simon Darby said: “We don’t condone or have official links with any other parties and I think you’ll find such splinter groups rise and then break up very quickly.”
A key NBU member is former ‘Policies Officer’ Matthew Gill, a charity worker and Doctor Who fan, who heads the Warwickshire chapter.
On the NBU website an article on immigration in Gill’s name reads: “There are those who will say there is nothing wrong with massive Third World immigration so long as they learn the language, adapt to the local culture and so on. This presupposes that the human being can be intentionally colour blind.”
Gill’s blog posting adds: “The truth, of course, is that even if a Kenyan can speak perfect English, even if he wears English clothes, uses English slang and attends the C of E, none of that makes him English!”
The party claims not to be racist or anti-semitic but a careful look at its constitution reveals a bitter hatred of multiculturalism and non-white immigrants.
Its immigration policy states that immigrants “… must be prepared to totally leave their past nationality behind them. Racially and ethnically they must be compatible with the majority population where they wish to settle.
“This does not mean being exactly the same, but that they are at least similar enough that their assimilation will be smooth, and have no negative effects on the native population.
“The same goes for religious beliefs. They must be the same as the majority or at least similar enough so as to have no problem adopting the established values and moral code of the nation.”
“Differences cause problems and excessive diversity leads to nothing but trouble.” It adds: “Freedom of religion would not be absolute. All ties with the former homeland of the immigrant will be cut.
“Multiculturalism does not work and only ruins all cultures involved.”
The party takes a bizarre stance on education policies simply stating: “One goes to school to learn, not play and not have subsidized orgies.”
Gerry Gable, from anti-fascist magazine Searchlight said that the NBU was a sinister organisation with many members claiming to be Pagans or followers of Satanic and Wiccan cults.
He said: “Mosley was a Nazi sympathiser and he eventually changed the name of his party to reflect Hitler’s influence and called it the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists.
“This new incarnation of his notorious Blackshirts is clearly attracting the dregs from other far-right groups but I don’t think it will survive.”
Gary Fiennes-Hastings, editor of far-right monitor website EDL News added: “Time and time again groups try and reform the fascist ideology but this country has a long and proud tradition for fighting fascism.
“We must never forget that our grandparents and great grandparents gave their lives fighting the ideology that these people are promoting.”
The Sunday Mercury has contacted each of the Midland members identified as NBU members to ask them to comment on their views.
But each one directed us to their head office. Last night Gary Raikes, NBU founder – who has taken on Mosley’s preferred title of Leader and signs off his correspondence with ‘Hail Britannia’ – told the Sunday Mercury that he was in favour of racial segregation.
He said: “We do not imply that only people from Caucasian Christian origin would be welcome to the UK, we state that whatever their racial origin it would be better if they settled in areas that are made up in the majority of that origin, black, white or whatever.
“Officers can belong to whichever political party they wish at this time.
“We have no official links to either EDL or BNP, both failed movements, in our opinion, and have nothing to offer British Fascism.”
Benito Mussolini
MOSELEY – A MAN CAPTIVATED WITH ITALIAN DICTATOR MUSSOLINI
Sir Oswald Mosley was born into an aristocratic family in 1896 and grew up in Staffordshire before serving as a Labour MP for Smethwick in the 1920s.
In January 1932 he visited Benito Mussolini and was so captivated with the Italian dictator and his National Fascist Party that later that year he founded his own British Union of Fascists, BUF.
In 1938 Mussolini passed laws barring Jews from universities and many professions and later when Germany occupied parts of the country, more than 7,000 Jews were deported to Nazi concentration camps, with many dying at Auschwitz.
Mosley returned to England to organise marches policed by his paramilitary Blackshirts and the government was sufficiently concerned to pass the Public Order Act 1936, which banned political uniforms and quasi-military style organisations.
An MI5 report from a British Union of Fascists rally in the 1930s revealed: “The significant feature was to express determination to defeat the enemy (The Jew) if not by the ballot box then by other and more drastic means, a sentiment cheered to the echo.”
In May 1940 the BUF was banned by the Government, effectively killing off the movement, and Mosley was interned for most of the rest of the war.
On his release an undeterred Mosley continued to campaign on an anti-immigration platform, calling for forced repatriation of Caribbean immigrants as well as a prohibition upon mixed marriages.
His papers are housed at the University of Birmingham’s Special Collections.
POLICE ALERTED TO MOSQUE THREATS
Police are investigating a Midland man after the Sunday Mercury alerted officers to threats he made against local mosques.
Peugeot worker John Molloy, from Coventry, told followers on the English Defence League Facebook website that he would “guarantee a few will get bombed tonight” just days after the Woolwich terror attack last month.
He went on to urge people to “Take to the streets” in support of English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson after he was arrested.
Robinson has been released on police bail after he was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police in London.
Mr Molloy, from Wyken, could not be contacted for comment last night.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “ The Force Intelligence Department will assess the content of the files you have sent to us and take any appropriate action.”
3 Counties Anti-Fascist Alliance (3CAFA) 
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